Fork



May 29, 1923. 7 1,456,913

L. w. BUSCH FORK Filed April 4, 1921 Patented May 29, 1923.

" UNITED er LOUIS vW. Boson,

roux.

T0 allwhom it 'l nac co ncernr Be it -known that LLOUIS-Q Bust/3,11.

citizen, of. the, United States, residing Toledo, in the county of Lucasand State of Ohio, have inventedcertainnew and. useful Improvements; inForks, of which the following is. a specification. i

This invention relates to improvements in .forks and more particularlytoforksof that type which are designed for. use in removing "pickles,olives, and the like-frombottles,'jars or other containers. It is a wellrecognized factthat the ordinary fork cannotbeysuo nary. fork andlifting upwardly upon the fork, and. even where the articles aretinallfyloosened, it is a- :di'fiicult matterto elevate 1 them from the:container as the least Contact with the wallsfo-r mouth of the containeris liable. to dislodge them? from the. P fork.

Therefore it is the primaryobject of the present invention to provide a[fork of simple construction and capable of being-read ly andconveniently ,manipulated and .wh ch may be employed with satisfactionin: removing articles such as those above referred .to-from theircontainers even when relatively closely packed or. where the mouth ofthe container is somewhat restricted.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the fork that it maybe conven iently manipulated with, one hand 7 and caused to securelygrip the article to be elevated from its container regardless of thesize of the article, within reasonable limits.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective viewillustrating the preferred form of the invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinalsectional view through the forkillustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 ofFigure 2. I

In that form of the invention shown in the drawings, the fork comprisesa handle member which is indicated in general by the numeral 1 and whichis preferably formed from a single length of bar metal and is thereforefiat sided. This member is pref erably of uniform width throughout itsintermediate and rear portion but the forward I Application filed April4, 1921: 'Serial K054258312.

in this manner provided .witha g by wh-ichsit may be readily I c .h andand conveniently liel clgvhilel thefOrki-s ogmornnomnro;

portion thereof is gradually tapered, ,de

creased in width in the direction of itsex- Y tremity, as indicated bythenumeral The Y said rear portion of the-handle member is curveddownwardly and thence bentalong curved lines in a forward direct on, as.in

dicated by the numeral 3," thence iupv ardlgt .as at in the direction ofthe underside of the handle member then preferably; substa-ntiallyparallelto the. under side ofthe 5, thence upwardly atright. angles asat e, and finally, forwardly at right anglesto the portion 6,asindicated by thenumeral .7 and secured-in any. suitable manner-to thesaid under. sidecfthc handle member, It-.will i now be evident that thehandle memberjs 11 asped in the being manipulated.

handle member as indicatedbythebnunieral t Y i 1P. p r ion The m'dend.POrtiQn Q-nf m b s pports t e prong eqfthea e i 180 which prongs areindicatedin general by; the

nu'meralB, and the saidprongs are prefer- 7 ably .formed fromspringleaves-"wlnchare riveted or otherwise securedfat their inner Iends as at 9, to the upperandundersidesof the said porti-on 2of-thehandlenien berl.

From their attached rear. ends the prongs ex I tend along lines-#curvingupwardly and downwardly. respectively above and beloTw the said handlemember, asindicated by the i v numeral 10, and are thence curvedinwardly toward. each other as indicated "by the numeral 11 theportions11 terminating in one I i or more teeth indicated by the numeral 12,

By reason of their inherent resiliency, the

prongs 1O tend to spread apart and away from the upper and under sidesof .t-hehandie member 1 so that. their teeth 12 arenor mally relativelywidely separated but means is provided, as will now be explained, for

springingthe shanks of the prongs 10 m wardly toward each other andtoward the portion 2 of the handle-member so asto' move their teeth 12toward each other and thus grip the article of food to be lifted by thefork.

The prong contracting means above re- 7 length of bar metal or stampedfrom'a sheet of such material and which-is disp'osed fiatv against theupper side of the handle member 1. .Near its rear end the member 13 ispro videdat itscp-posite longitudinal edges with integral lugs 14: whichare turned over the corresponding edges of the intermediate portion ofthe handle member 1 and thus maintain these parts assembled with eachother, at the same time permitting sliding movement of the member 13upon the said handle member 1. At its forward end the contracting member13 is likewise provided with lugs 15" at the opposite edges, which lugsare bent to engage about the lateral edges ofthe prongs 10 andthe'forward portion 2 of the said handle member 1, and in thismanner theforward end ofthe contract- 15 ing member is slidably connected with theforward end of the handle member and likewis'eheld in sliding engagementwith the prongs I0 forwardly of the attached end 9 of" the said prongs;It will now be evident that when the contracting member is slid in arearward direction upon the handle member, the lugs 15- will becorrespondingly shifted with relation to the shanks of the prongs- 1'0and thus the prongs will be permitted to spread apart through theirinherent resiliency. On the other hand when the contracting member isslid in a forward direction, the lugs 15 will ride forwardly along theshanks of the prongs l0 and will spring these prongs inwardly towardeach other thus causing their toothed forward ends 12' toapproach eachother and grip the article'to-be lifted'by' the fork.

In order that the contracting member 13 may be manipulatedconveniently,- the rear end portion=.thereof isbent upwardly andforwardlynpon itself as indicated by the numeral lti'andthencedownwardly and forwardlyasat 17 with its extremity in engageme-ntwith the'upper side of said member, and'in this manner a thumb piece 18is provided at the rear end of the said contracting member, the portions16-and 17 constituting shoulders against which the thumb means wherebythe device may be securedly held in the hand while the'thumb is engagingthe thumb piece 18 for the purpose of adjusting the-contracting member13.

Having thus described the invention, wha 1s claimed as new 1s:

It will also be evident at this point that the hand grip provided at therear end of the handle member affords a In an implement of the classdescribed, a

handle member, prongs having shanks secured at their'inner ends toopposite sides of the handle member, the shanksbeing resilient andbeyond their point of attachment being sprung outwardly in oppositedirecv tions away from the handle member and having terminal grippingportions directed inwardly toward each other, and meansslidably mount-edupon the handle member and including an element embracing the: saidshanks of' the prongs wherebywhen thesaid means is slid in the directionof the attached ends of the shanks, the shanks will be permitted tospread apart through their resiliency and when the means is slid in'the-op 0- site direction theshanks will be moved inwardly towardthe-handle member against.

their resiliency. p,

In testimony whereof I afiix: my signature.

LOUIS- W.- BUSGH, [us];

